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Installing Academic Suite - Developer Edition
Added by George Kroner, last edited by George Kroner on 02 Jan 2008 05:10 PM
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Please feel free to modify or contribute to this tutorial by clicking the Edit->Edit this page link

This tutorial will cover how to install the Blackboard Academic Suite from start to finish in two common configurations.
Tutorial Contents

Installing a Blackboard developer environment on Microsoft Windows

This section assumes that you have a running copy of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2. (You can also use Windows XP as your operating system.) Please note that using any configuration other than that specified in each version's release notes is unsupported. This tutorial also assumes that you are installing version 7.3.159.29 of our software. The installation should be similar to any installation of version 7 of Blackboard's software and above. However, please note that MS SQL Server 2005 is a supported database only for version 7.2 and above. You will need to use MS SQL Server 2000 for earlier versions. 

Install and Configure IIS

To install, follow these instructions:

  1. Click Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs.
  2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
  3. Select Application Server in Windows Server 2003 or Internet Information Services (IIS) in Windows XP.
  4. Click Next (you may be prompted to insert your installation CD-ROM).
  5. Click Finish.
  6. Exit Add or Remove Programs.

To configure, follow these instructions:

  1. Click Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
  2. Expand Web Sites -> Default Web Site. Right click this entry and click Stop.
  3. Exit IIS Manager.

Install and Configure the Environment and JDK

Download the latest supported of the 1.5 version of the JDK from Sun. In this tutorial, we install JDK 5.0 Update 14 from here.

To install, follow these instructions:

  1. Run the file jdk-1_5_0_14-windows-i586-p.exe.
  2. Accept the license terms and click Next.
  3. Unselect Demos and Source Code. These are not necessary components for Blackboard to run. Change the installation path to one that does not include spaces. In our example, we use c:\jdk as our installation directory. Click Next to continue.
  4. Click Next to continue with the JRE installation. This is not a required component for Blackboard to run, but it can be handy to have available on the developer machine.
  5. Click Next to install support for Java applets to any locally-installed web browser.
  6. Click Next to install the JRE.
  7. Click Finish to complete the setup.
    To configure, follow these instructions:
  8. Right click My Computer and select Properties. Click the Advanced tab and select Environment Variables.
  9. On the Environment Variables screen, we will make two changes. First, click New to create a new SYSTEM variable (not USER variable). Enter JAVA_HOME as the variable name. Enter C:\jdk as the environment variable. Click OK to add this value.
  10. Now select the Path variable, and click Edit. Add ;C:\jdk\bin to the end of the path value. Click OK to save this change.
  11. Click OK to exit the Environment Variables screen.
  12. Click OK to exit the System Properties screen.

To configure the server name, follow these instructions:

  1. Right click My Computer and select Properties.
  2. On the Computer Name tab, investigate the Full computer name value.
  3. If necessary, click the Change button on this screen. Then click the More button on the resulting screen.
  4. Add a primary DNS suffix for the computer if it is not already part of a domain. It is necessary to have a domain suffix to successfully install the Learning System.
  5. You can also edit /WINDOWS/system32/drivers/etc/hosts to point 127.0.0.1 to a full domain name (e.g.:testserver.devgroup.myschool.edu) for purposes of this installation.


Install .NET 2.0

In this tutorial, the version of SQL Server that we use requires the .NET 2.0 framework which we downloaded from here.

To install, follow these instructions:

  1. Run the file dotnetfx.exe.
  2. Click Next to start the installation wizard.
  3. Accept the license agreement, and click Install.
  4. Click Finish to exit the installation when complete.

Install and Configure Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition and tools

Our tutorial relies on SQL Server 2005 Express Edition SP2 and SQL Server Management Studio Express which we downloaded from here.

To install, follow these instructions:

  1. Run the file SQLEXPR32.EXE.
  2. Accept the license agreement, and click Next.
  3. Click Install to install the necessary required setup components.
  4. Click Next when this process is complete.
  5. Click Next to begin the SQL Server Installation Wizard.
  6. Click Next after the System Configuration Check. You may need to resolve any number of issues before continuing installation by following the instructions in this installer.
  7. Ensure that your registration information is accurate and uncheck the Hide advanced configuration options button. Click Next to continue.
  8. Select the Client Components and Connectivity Components to install. Click Next to continue.
  9. Click Default instance and click Next.
  10. For your development environment, you can accept the default values to start the MSSQLSERVER service with the System account. This may differ from the configuration of a production database server. Click Next to continue.
  11. Choose Mixed Mode authentication and enter a password for the SA account. Click Next to continue.
  12. Accept the default collation settings.
  13. Check Add user to the SQL Server Administrator role, and click Next.
  14. Click Next on the Error and Usage Report Settings screen.
  15. Click Install to install the product.
  16. Click Next and Finish to complete setup.

Next, run the file SQLServer2005_SSMSEE.msi to install SQL Management Studio Express

  1. Click Next.
  2. Accept the license agreement. Click Next.
  3. Ensure that your registration information is accurate. Click Next.
  4. Accept the default feature selections. Click Next.
  5. Click Install to begin the installation process.
  6. Click Finish to complete the installation.
    To configure, follow these instructions.
  7. Navigate to Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft SQL Server 2005 -> Configuration Tools -> SQL Server Configuration Manager
  8. Expand SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> Protocols for MSSQLSERVER.

  1. Right click TCP/IP and click Properties.
  2. Change the Enabled value to Yes.
  3. Click the IP Addresses tab and change all Enabled values to Yes.
  4. Click OK to exit this screen.
  5. Click OK to the popup message.
  6. Click SQL Server 2005 Services.
  7. Right click SQL Server and select Restart.
  8. Exit configuration manager.

Install and Configure Blackboard

In this tutorial, we assume that you have downloaded the latest version of the Blackboard Academic Suite from the Downloads area of this site.

To install, follow these instructions:

  1. Click Start->All Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt
  2. Navigate to the directory where your Blackboard installer is located. In our example, C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\
  3. Run the command >java -jar bb-as-windows-7.3.159.29.jar
  4. Click Next to continue.
  5. Specify your installation directory, and click Next.
  6. Accept the default of Full installation, and click Next.
  7. Accept the terms of the license agreement, and click Next.
  8. Specify the location of the license file. Click Next.
  9. Specify the location of the JDK. This should be the value specified in the JAVA_HOME environment variable above. Click Next.
  10. Specify the location to save Blackboard course content. Click Next.
  11. Confirm your application server machine name and domain. Click Next. Note: If you did not disable the default IIS web site above or have another web site running on port 80, you will receive an error.
  12. Confirm your database server hostname, and click Next.
  13. Confirm those passwords to use when installing the Blackboard application databases. Click Next.
  14. Confirm the database file and log storage locations. Click Next.
  15. Confirm the storage locations for Blackboard Content System content. Click Next.
  16. Confirm the hostname of the collaboration server. Click Next.
  17. Enter the address of your SMTP server. Click Next.
  18. Enter passwords for the three default Blackboard user accounts created. Click Next.
  19. Enter accurate registration information for this installation. Click Next.
  20. Click Next to begin installation.
  21. Click Close to exit the installer.
  22. Navigate to http://localhost to load the Blackboard application.

Optional configuration if necessary: 

If your services do not successfully start, this is likely because the amount of memory allocated to the JVM is set too high. Optimally, a development machine will have 2gb of memory. If your machine has less than this, you will likely have to make the following changes.

  1. Open the file /blackboard/config/bb-config.properties
  2. Reduce the values for the heapsize as follows:
    bbconfig.min.heapsize.tomcat=512m
    bbconfig.max.heapsize.tomcat=512m
  3. Save the file.
  4. Click Start->All Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt
  5. Run the command C:\blackboard\tools\admin>PushConfigUpdates.bat
  6. Navigate to http://localhost to load the Blackboard application.

Installing a Blackboard developer environment on Red Hat Linux

Installing a Blackboard developer environment on Red Hat Enterprise Linux v4 update 6. This tutorial also assumes that you are installing version 7.3.159.29 of our software. The installation should be similar to any installation of version 7 of Blackboard's software and above.

Configure Environment and JDK

Download the latest supported JDK from Sun. In this tutorial, we install JDK 5.0 Update 14 from here. Note: Make sure to get the full JDK. If when you extract the bin file, the file javac is not in /jdk1.5.0_14/bin/, you'll need to locate and install the full JDK.

  1. Run ./jdk-1_5_0_14-linux-i586.bin
  2. Accept the Terms of Use.
  3. In our example, we create a symbolic link make to point /usr/local/jdk to our JDK using the command ln -s /usr/local/jdk1.5.0_14 /usr/local/jdk
  4. Add the bbuser account by using the command useradd bbuser
  5. SU to bbuser using the command su - bbuser
  6. Edit the bash profile using the command vi .bash_profile and add the following lines:
    JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/jdk
    export JAVA_HOME
  7. Do the same for the root user. Root's bash profile is located in /root/.bash_profile.
  8. Save the file, and exit su/return to root.
  9. Run mkdir /usr/local/blackboard
  10. Run chown bbuser:root /usr/local/blackboard

Install and Configure Oracle

Download and install Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2.0.1.0) for Linux x86 from here. You will need to join the Oracle Technology Network at no cost to download this software. Examine the license to ensure that you are in compliance. This software may not be used in a production environment.

Full documentation to install and configure Oracle can be found here.

 To install, follow these instructions:

  1. Run unzip 10201_database_linux32.zip.
  2. As root, run groupadd dba then useradd oracle -g dba.
  3. Run mkdir /usr/local/oracle then chown oracle:dba /usr/local/oracle.
  4. Run su - oracle.
  5. Edit the bash profile by running vi .bash_profile and add the following values:
    export ORACLE_HOME=/usr/local/oracle
    export ORACLE_BASE=$ORACLE_HOME
    export ORACLE_OWNER=oracle
    export ORACLE_SID=BB
    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib
    export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH
    export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.4.19
  6. Exit su - oracle, and return to root.
  7. Run xhost +.
  8. Run su - oracle
  9. Run ./runInstaller from the directory to which you unzipped the installer to kick off installation.
  10. Select Advanced Installation to configure specific installation settings. Click Next.
  11. Accept the default directory and ensure that the OS group name is set to dba. Click Next.
  12. Select Standard Edition (or Enterprise depending on your needs). Click Next.
  13. Accept the default home directory. Click Next.
  14. Click Next after the prerequisite checks. Be sure to fix any issues before continuing.
  15. Select Install database Software only. Click Next.
  16. Click the Install button to continue installation.
  17. Run the scripts as specified to complete installation. Click OK.
  18. Click Exit to end installation.

To configure the database, follow these instructions:

  1. Still as the oracle user, edit the start script using vi $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbstart
  2. Replace ORACLE_HOME_LISTNER=$*i with *ORACLE_HOME_LISTNER=$ORACLE_HOME and save the file.
  3. From /usr/local/oracle/bin/, run ./dbca (DBCA stands for Database Configuration Assistant).
  4. Select Create a Database. Click Next.
  5. Select the default of General Purpose. Click Next.
  6. Enter BB as the SID. (You specified this in the bash profile above). Click Next.
  7. Uncheck Configure the Database with Enterprise Manager. Click Next.
  8. Configure passwords as desired. Click Next.
  9. Select the default of File System for database storage. Click Next.
  10. Select the default of Use Database File Locations from Template. Click Next.
  11. Uncheck specify Flash Recovery Area. Click Next.
  12. Click Next on the Database Content screen to continue without selecting any sample schemas.
  13. Ensure on the Character Sets tab that the database character set is WE8ISO8859P1 and the National Character Set is AL16UTF16. Click Next.
  14. Click Next and Finish to create the database.
  15. Exit the database configuration assistant when complete.
  16. Run the command sqlplus "/ as sysdba"
  17. Run the command SQL> @$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/rstrconn.sql
  18. Exit sqlplus, and exit su - oracle/return to root. 

Install and Configure Blackboard

  1. As root, run the command /usr/local/jdk/bin/java -jar bb-as-linux-7.3.159.29
  2. Click Next to begin the installation configuration process.
  3. Specify the installation directory. Click Next.
  4. Choose the type of installation. First time installs should be full installations. Click Next.
  5. Read and agree to the license agreement. Click Next.
  6. Specify the location of the license key file. Click Next.
  7. Specify the location of the JDK. In this example, we configured the symbolic link /usr/local/jdk to point to our JDK. Click Next.
  8. Specify the location to store course content. Click Next.
  9. Enter the host name and domain of the application server. Click Next.
  10. Enter the location of the database server and enter the database instance name (Oracle SID). In our example, this is BB. Click Next.
  11. Enter the database passwords as appropriate for your configuration. Click Next.
  12. Enter the location to store the database files and logs. Click Next.
  13. Enter the storage locations for Content System content. Click Next.
  14. Enter the hostname for the Collaboration server. Click Next.
  15. Enter the hostname of your SMTP server. Click Next.
  16. Enter values for the  three default Blackboard user accounts. Click Next.
  17. Enter valid registration data. Click Next.
  18. Click Next to begin the installation.
  19. When installation is complete, click the Close button to exit the installer. This should normally take half an hour or less.
  20. Navigate to http://localhost to confirm that the Blackboard application loads correctly.

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